Bookbinding construction



J1me 1, 1937. s H E I 2,082,424

BOOKBINDING CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 21, 1935 lNyENTOR ffu wr Sun/1.5V 80/1405 ATTORNEYS Patented June 1, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOOKBINDING CONSTRUCTION Application September 21, 1935, Serial No. 41,524

1 Claim.

This invention relates to the construction of books with removable fillers, and has for its objects the improvement of certain prior constructions in a. manner which will be fully discussed below.

In my prior application Serial No. 754,456, filed November 23, 1934, I have disclosed a type of book construction in which a filler, the sheets of which are bound with a helical wire coil, is removably secured to the back plate of a book. In that case the coils of the binding wire straddled spaced arches struck up from the back plate, and were held clamped in position by a rod sliding through the arches and gripping the coils between itself and the adjoining parts of the back plate. In my prior application Serial No. 28,420, filed June 26, 1935 I have disclosed an improvement on this structure in which the clamping means took the form of a concave strip which gripped the coils on opposite sides of their points of engagement with the back plate and gave a three-point support, greatly increasing the rigidity with which the coils were held. In my prior application Serial No. 36,469, filed August 16, 1935, I have disclosed a book construction of a somewhat diiferent type, in which the coiled binding wire was held in a reversely folded flange preferably of metal; slots being cut in the flange to provide wire receiving grooves, and the walls of the folded flange being spaced sufficiently to provide for the reception of a retaining rod or Wire serving to clamp the coils against the bottom of the slots.

The purpose of the present invention is to improve upon these prior constructions and to provide means for clamping the connected coils of the binding wire to the back plate of a book construction adaptable to several diiferent standard types. While several features of the prior inventions referred to have been employed in the present construction, it possesses distinct qualities of its own and for certain types of book construction has a much greater adaptability. In particular, a much readier connection between the back plate and the various cover and liner members is afiorded than was possible with the earlier constructions; more space being afforded for attachment of these members and less fitting of the lining materials being required. The invention will be described in connection with two preferred embodiments, but those skilled in the art will readily understand that adaptations to other environments can easily be made.

Referring to the drawing- Fig. 1 is a plan view of a book construction embodying one form of the present invention, the book being shown open and with certain parts partially broken away in order to disclose other elements which would otherwise be concealed by them;

Fig. 2 is a detailed section of the back plate and binding elements shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly broken of the parts shown in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a view corresponding to Fig. 2 but showing a slightly different form of the inven- The filler l0 shown in Fig. 1 is provided with perforations II in the binding edges of its component sheets through which is threaded a helical wire coil I2 or other wire binding element having connected coils. The back panel of the book is formed by a metallic plate l3 of the crosssectional form shown in Fig. 2. It will there be seen that the plate has marginal fiat Wings [4 joined by a reversely folded flange portion l5 the sides of which are spaced sufficiently to receive a binding rod or strip IS. The wings M are connected as by rivets IT. to the back panel or cover strip Hi, the invention being independent of the detailed manner in which the covers of the book are assembled. The usual liner strip I9 is adhesively secured to the inside of the cover and overlaps the wings 94, being secured thereto either adhesively or by the same rivets I3. The central flange i5 is provided with a series of spaced slots 20, best shown in Fig. 3, which in the case shown extend substantially all the way down to the wings. These slots are spaced apart a distance equal to the interval between successive coils of the wire binder, so that every one of these coils has its individual anchorage. When the wire is in position and the binding rod I6 is slid into place the coil and the filler held by it will be held in position with great rigidity, as willbe pointed out below. It is convenient to provide the rod l6 with one bent end 2! for use as a handle, and with one tapered end 22 to facilitate its entrance between the successive coils of the binding wire.

It will beseen from the discussion above that the coils of the wire binder will be received separately in the slots and will be held at each slot by engagement between the rod l6 and the slot bottom. A three-point engagement is thus provided, the coils being bridged between the bottoms of the slots and gripped at an intermediate point by the rod it. This gives great lateral stability to the binding wire coil when positioned within the cover, securing the advantage of the away,

concave strip described in my prior application Serial No. 28,420 but with a much narrower mechanism. The reversely folded flange I5 is much narrower than the arches Shown in my prior application, giving more of the surface of the wings I4 available for attachment to the covers and to the liner I9. A further advantage is that no cutting of the liner is necessary in order to fit it around the arches, the liner being trimmed off square as near as may be desired to the sides of the flange. Since in accordance with the present construction each individual coil is supported both laterally and longitudinally there will be no chance for the binding wire to move; this movement even to a relatively slight degree being undesirable not only on account of the sloppy appearance it gives to the book as a whole but also on account of the dim-- culty in turning the pages of the filler which even a slight misalignment of the coils will give.

As will be seen in Fig. 4, the wings, here denoted by M', can readily be formed on a curve to adapt the back plate to covers having a curved back panel. For the sake of compactness this curve is made on an arc substantially corresponding to the curvature of the binding wire coils. Here again, the attachment of the Wings to the elements of the book cover can be made in any desired way, as by direct adhesion between the wings and the several elements; the wings being sufficiently broad and free from struck-up portions to permit perfect freedom of choice in the method of attachment without making the back plate of undesirably great width. The adaptability of the construction described to other types of book bindings will be apparent.

What I claim is:

A book construction comprising a binder case made up of back panel and hinged side covers, a stiffening plate made of sheet, metal attached to the inside face of the back panel and covering substantially its whole area, said plate being provided with an integral central longitudinal fold, presenting two vertical walls spaced apart about "the thickness of the sheet metal with tops of thewalls connected by the bend of the fold, said fold having closely spaced vertical slots extending through the top and down the side walls of the fold to the plane of the stiffening plate, a filler of book sheets, a onepiece coiled wire binder on which said sheets are hung, with the coils of the binder threaded in holes of the sheets and closely spaced the same distance apart as the said vertical slots, and a flat removable keeper bar adapted to lie vertically within said fold andextend across the top portion of all the slots While holding all the coils against said stiffening plate, all constructed and arranged for said fold in the stiffening plate in cooperation with said keeper rod to provide not only an exceptional stifiening means for said back panel but also as the sole means for removably attaching wire bound filler sheets to the book.

FRANK STANLEY SCHADE. 

